SILVER CITY, N.M. (Volleyball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (18-5, 8-3 LSC) travels to New Mexico where they will face Western New Mexico University (14-8, 6-5 LSC) Friday in Drag's Court at 7 p.m. CT and then Saturday against Eastern New Mexico University (11-10, 6-5 LSC) at 7 p.m. CT at Greyhound Arena.Â
Live stats and video will be available free of charge on JavelinaAthletics.com for the match against Western New Mexico. Stats will be free against Eastern New Mexico as well, but video will be available for a small fee.
The Javelinas are clicking on all cylinders (and at the right time) with a six-match winning streak in the later portion of the regular season. The club is coming off of a massive five-set win against Tarleton State that improved their conference record to 8-3 in 2016. Kingsville dominates in many different ways as they enter the week with three of the the top five players in the Lone Star Conference in service aces (Krystal Faison-34, Lexi Wick-34 and Taliah Phipps-28) and two of the top three players in total blocks (Wick-103 and Haley Hutchinson-90).
TAMUK features three players with over 200 kills starting with Fasion who has 270 kills this season and recently set a new individual career match-high of 23 kills against Tarleton State. Wick is behind her with 230 kills and also leads the conference with a .398 hitting percentage. Ashley Bukowski rounds out the top three with 206 kills and has gathered 30 blocks and 22 aces this year. Madison Brabham and Hutchinson have collected 153 and 134 kills, respectively, and Krystal Puente leads the team with 338 digs. Casey Klobedans not only leads the conference, but also ranks sixth in the nation with 912 total assists and has added 60 kills, 37 blocks and 21 aces to her 2016 campaign.
Western New Mexico posts a 5-0 record at home this year and comes off of a 3-0 win against UT Permian Basin. The Mustangs rank third in the LSC with a .236 hitting percentage and 2.17 blocks per set. Heather Verrill leads the club and is one kill short of 200 in 74 sets played and adds 55 blocks. Shannon Rick is second in kills at 148 and sits fourth in the league with 81 total blocks. Samantha Haupeakui is next in line with 134 kills and 67 blocks, Morgan Lyneis has compiled 123 kills and Kalie Lyle rounds out the top hitters with 117 kills and 23 aces. Melanie Hughes is fourth in the conference with 29 aces and leads the WNMU with 372 assists.
Texas A&M-Kingsville picked up its first win against Western New Mexico in the all-time series (1-2) when they swept the Mustangs earlier this season for its first conference win.Â
Eastern New Mexico also plays tough at home which shows after sweeping West Texas A&M to improve its home record to 6-1. Although they rank third in the LSC with 13.52 kills per set, they hit .197 as a unit and allow their opponents a .208 hitting percentage.
The Greyhounds have on of the best hitters leading them in Lauren Frye who has 364 kills, the second most in the conference, averages 4.49 kills per set and has totaled 48 blocks which also leads the club. Brooklyn Biel has 250 kills, 44 blocks and ten aces, followed by Courtney Lawson with 187 kills and a team high of 25 service aces. Alexis Aguirre and Andrea Aguilar shares 15 aces and leads their team with 553 assists and 337 digs, respectively.
The Javelinas trail 23-31 in the all-time series but are currently on a ten-match win streak against the Greyhounds dating back to 2011. TAMUK swept ENMU earlier this season 25-20, 25-14, 25-14.
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